this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
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Summary

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Europe that it cannot withstand Russia without Ukraine’s military, calling Ukraine’s victory vital to stopping Kremlin expansion.

Speaking to Polish media, Zelenskyy stressed that Russia’s larger, more brutal army would target other European nations if Ukraine falls.

He criticized Western allies for underestimating Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions, urging them to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses.

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[–] x00z@lemmy.world 19 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Not really. Europe's army is "small" because we have not been drafted.

Populations:

  • Europe: 450 million
  • Russia: 150 million
  • Ukraine: 35 million

Defending countries will draft most of their people, while the attackers draft far less. Countries that are not at war will simply not draft and will have a natural army size. (Which protects the country until people get drafted and trained)

There's no reason to compare apples and pears here.

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Europe's population is ~744m.

EU's population is ~450m. Not Europe's.

However you'd also have to account for the population of all NATO countries, minus potentially the US, were it to come to a conflict against its members.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Yes I meant EU. Which I think was what Zelensky meant. Russia is part of Europe the continent anyways.

[–] endeavor@sopuli.xyz 5 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Only people taking the draft actually seriously would be nations that have been at war or occupied with russia. For westerners russia is "that funny accent vodka nation" instead of the existential, genocidal torture enthusiast nation waiting to end you.